Time Teaches
by sabra jaguar
Summary: Missing scene for Left Behind. Ray finds a sympathetic ear in Professor Stein while they collect the Atom suit. Ray/Kendra mentioned.
Hi, this is just a missing scene for Left Behind. For some reason my brain needed a conversation between Professor Stein and Ray about shared experience in teaching, and the show was kind enough to provide the perfect space to fit it in. Thanks to helloyesimhere for beta read!

Mistakes are mine, characters are not.

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"Well, here we are. Not sure if I should be telling you to make yourself at home, since I'm not going to be living here anymore..." Ray murmured, inviting Professor Stein inside the place he and Kendra had made a home for the past two years. Or at least, he thought they had. Apparently, he was more the sentimental type than Kendra was. Or maybe she just had better perspective than he did. After all, when you have thousands of years worth of memories locked inside your head, maybe two years just didn't seem all that significant?

No, he couldn't really believe that. Kendra had supported him when Sara had lost hope of their friends returning. She'd kept him sane during the years they'd spent displaced in time, chosen to stay with him when Sara had left to find her own way. She'd turned two years he might have otherwise found unbearable into memories he hated to leave behind. He'd found purpose and fulfillment in the past that he hadn't thought he would, in his relationship with Kendra, in the students he taught. For once he was content not worrying about his place in history or about leaving a legacy behind. He couldn't bring himself to think of that time as a waste. How did he miss that Kendra didn't feel the same way? Had he failed to show her how much she had made their time together worthwhile? Had he neglected to give her that same support?

"Raymond?" Stein said, breaking into his thoughts. "I believe we are a bit pressed for time. Perhaps we could locate your exo-suit so that we can continue on our mission? And I would imagine Captain Hunter would want us to make sure we don't leave behind any technology or schematics you've created, so as not to risk contamination of the timeline."

"Right," Ray laughed a little at the thought. "We live on a time machine and we're pressed for time." The trinkets of a couple years didn't matter, the future tech they couldn't let fall into the wrong hands did. The real reason they were here, he had to focus on that. Still, he didn't want just to vanish without a trace, or leave the friends he and Kendra had made in this time wondering what had happened to them. Maybe he could at least leave a note for the neighbors to say goodbye, claim a sudden family emergency requiring them to move back home without warning...Searching for a pen and paper to write out a plausible lie, he caught sight of the term papers he was supposed to grade and began moving towards them, torn between loyalty to his team and responsibility to the students he taught. The chance he'd had to influence brilliant young minds...it wasn't something he was able to throw away lightly. "Professor Stein?"

Stein glanced over at him from where he was examining an earlier version of the time beacon, or what was left of it. (Ray cringed at the thought of Stein noting the flaws in that particular version. Why couldn't it have been the working model he was studying so intently?) "Yes, Dr. Palmer?" he replied, in a not-quite-impatient tone.

"You were in my position...well, maybe not my exact position, since you were never stranded in an earlier time period trying to make the most of things, but, well..."

"Kindly get to the point?" Stein broke in, the impatience he'd restrained before now beginning to seep into his response.

"How do I walk away? You said before that you had so many exceptional students, and I know you don't remember having me in your class but you were a big influence on me. I don't know how much I would have accomplished in my life without the encouragement and instruction I got early on. While I was stuck here, I...just tried to pass on what I got from teachers like you. I don't want to just abandon my students without any explanation. It's not fair to them." Ray sighed. "I may not have been out there saving the world, and I've missed being able to help protect the city as the Atom, and it's been really hard having to prevent myself from building anything beyond the technological capabilities of the nineteen fifties. But this was still a way for me to influence the future, even though I've had to be careful not to reveal knowledge too advanced for this time period. I even got the chance to inspire Bill Gates' father! I mean, how cool is that?"

(Professor Stein didn't really have to know what Ray had actually inspired was the son's nickname.)

Ray picked up one of the bits of priceless junk he and Kendra had accumulated, turning the small figurine over in his hands. It had been a housewarming gift from the couple who lived two doors down. He would have to look up their older boy Jamie, see if he did anything with that love of chemistry he'd shown. See if either he or his baby brother made a difference in the world. "I found something here, and it didn't rely on being wealthy, or on social position, or developing advanced tech. I know, I need to remember the mission, but this...this is important too..." He gestured helplessly towards the stack of term papers, turned in by brilliant young people who deserved to have their efforts acknowledged. "What do I do, Professor?"

Stein's expression softened. "You are needed, Raymond. You and Ms. Lance and Ms. Saunders are all vital to our mission. What we are attempting to accomplish for the future far supersedes what small influence you could have here. But you have waited this long for our return; I think it fair the rest of the team extend to you a bit of the same courtesy. Perhaps we can spare a moment to grade your students' papers."


End file.
